Closer and Closer
by MelodiousVengeance
Summary: A series of one-shots, based on scenes from the films following the development of Astrid and Hiccup's relationship.
1. Firsts

**A/N: This was only a matter of time before I started writing these. I finally watched the new movie which cause me to watch the whole tv serious and the short films. So here is my take on Hiccups POV of his first flight with Astrid as well as finding the dragon nest and their first kiss. I hope you enjoy it and stay tuned for more one shots from the sequel and short films. And please don't forget to review, always love to hear what you guys think. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train your Dragon.**

"Ok I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Just get me off of this thing," these were the first words Hiccup had actually heard come from Astrid's mouth since this whole nightmarish flight had started. Hiccup found himself slightly turning his head to try and catch a glimpse of the blonde Viking girl as she wrapped her arms more tightly around him and his body registered the pressure of her head pressing into his back.

Toothless must have heard the frightened girl's apology for seconds before connecting with the water again the black dragon slightly pulled up and extended his wings, catching the air like an umbrella, pulling them up and away from the ocean's surface as Astrid gave a short scream. They glided a short distance towards the sea stacks before Toothless pulled up. As Hiccup allowed the now calmed dragon to take the lead, he turned his head back to see silky golden locks on his shoulder, Astrid's face buried into the crook of his neck.

As they rose higher Hiccup suddenly felt the cool wind touch his neck, signaling the fact that Astrid had lifted her head. As much as Hiccup wanted her to enjoy the ride understand the wonders of riding on the back of a dragon, he would be lying is he said he didn't already miss the warmth the young warrior had provided.

As he felt her body shift Hiccup flicked his head back a moment to check and make sure she wasn't about to fall off before turning forward again, instinctually lifting his left arm to allow her foot to unravel itself from around his waist where she had been using her legs for added security.

Toothless glided through the clouds, weaving here and there every so often. After a few seconds Hiccup found himself turning his head again, he told himself that it was to make sure she was still secured in her spot behind him, even if her hands were firmly clasping his shoulders. The real reason of course was that he wanted to be able to witness her beautiful amazement as she witnessed the beautiful world around her. Not that he would ever be telling her that.

The next time Hiccup turned his head he couldn't help but smile. There Astrid was, her head turned back behind her, her mouth slightly open in wonder as she stretched her arm out. When Hiccup didn't immediately feel her hand return to its former position he turned back to make sure she was ok, only to see her hand trying to grab the clouds. A split second later and he could feel her other hand lifting, presumably to join the other in its exploration. Hiccup couldn't help but grin as he looked up at the clouds, the fluffy bits in the sky that was currently causing the beautiful blonde at his back to smile.

At this point Toothless angled himself towards the sky, lifting them higher and causing Astrid to wrap her arms back around his waist, though it was more of a gentle hold to keep her from sliding away than a death grip to keep her alive.

Toothless made a gentle loop into the air before moving up and into the clouds. Everything went from a gentle pink to a light gray as they moved about the clouds and into the clear night sky. There were shades of green and purple dancing in the sky, though no amount of colours would have been able to distract Hiccup from Astrid's hand as it moved from its hold on his waist to be placed gently on his rib cage. As beautiful as the sky was, Hiccup glanced down just a moment, wanting to confirm that he wasn't imaging feeling her hand.

They glided above the clouds for some time, each taking in the beauty around them in silence, the only sound was the even flap of dragon wings and slight ruffling sounds as the two teens shifted every once and a while.

It almost felt like it was all too soon that clouds disappeared and light could be seen from below, suddenly reminding them that there was something other than endless sky. As they came closer to the edge of the clouds, it became apparently that the light was that of the torches lit in Berk. The whole village looked like it was dotted with fireflies and the sea stacks around the island.

Hiccup grinned widely as he took in the view, the sheer beauty of his home as seen from the sky was truly a sight to behold. His grin disappeared a moment to be replaced by something between fear and confusion as Astrid wrapped arms fully around his chest, bringing her whole upper body to press against his and lay her chin on his shoulder. However, as he looked to the side, taking in the sight Hiccup couldn't help but grin wider, he didn't think he could even dream up anything as good as this.

As they came closer to the village, Toothless took them down to glide through the statues that guarded the island, their mouths all lit with flames, like that of a dragon.

Eventually Toothless rose again to follow the cliff face that marked the edge of the island, bringing them back to fly over land. At some point throughout the shift from sea to land, Astrid had become secure enough to trust that neither Hiccup nor Toothless would allow her to fall, resting her hands on her legs rather than holding onto Hiccup.

As the soared through the open sly over the trees, Astrid spoke for the first time since she had apologized. "Alright, I admit it; this is pretty cool," Hiccup heard her say, grinning a little as she continued. "It's amazing. He's amazing," she finished and Hiccup turned his head in time to see Astrid's hand extend past him to place it on Toothless' back right behind his head.

Hiccup couldn't have been more thrilled by the turn of events. This had gone perfect. He was riding his dragon, through the sky with the girl of his dreams seated safely behind him, both getting along. If this was dream, he hoped he never would have to wake up. That was, until Astrid spoke up again, shattering his whole dream like a piece of glass hitting the ground.

"So what now?" Hiccup didn't need to ask her to clarify. He knew exactly what she was talking about. He gave a slight sigh and angled his head away from her, looking down at a spot right behind Toothless' head plates. Hiccup felt Astrid hold onto his sides as she leaned forward, attempting to make sure she had his attention. "Hiccup, you're final exam is tomorrow. You know you're going to have to kill a-" her she cut herself short and Hiccup found himself leaning back a little to catch what she was about to say. However this proved unnecessary when Astrid gripped his upper arm and pulled him back so she could whisper in his ear, so close he could feel her warm breath and his slightly chilled skin. "-kill a dragon," she finally finished.

"Don't remind me," Hiccup replied miserably.

That was when ever thing changed. Suddenly they were no longer gently gliding through the sky, but tilted sideways as Toothless made a sharp turn, towards the ground below causing both teens to give a small gasp of surprise.

"Toothless, what's happening?" Hiccup asked, attempting to gather his wits and determine where his dragon was going. Normally he was able to determine Toothless' every move, he always knew where he was going and what he was going to do next. Riding Toothless was like re-reading a book for the second time, knowing what each word will be next.

Soon the group found themselves in a thick fog, Toothless swaying back and forth, his movements feeling almost erratic. "Woah, what is it?" Hiccup questioned his dragon as a sudden screech met his ears and a Monstrous Nightmare was suddenly coming from the fog, appearing on their left side.

Toothless seemed to be coherent enough to move them away from the dragon as Hiccup hunched. "Get down," he told Astrid as he went, almost instantly feeling the pressure of her covering his whole back with her upper body, clearly attempting to get as flat as she could while being seated on a dragon's back and hunching over another human being.

The Monstrous Nightmare soon moved ahead of them, causing Hiccup to assume they were out of danger. As he was about to sit up again, Toothless shifted, coming almost directly into the path of a Deadly Nadder, causing him to jerk to the side, almost running them into yet another Monstrous Nightmare. Hiccup tried to push himself even tighter into his dragon's back, and felt Astrid follow his lead, as her body seemed to almost move tighter into his back on instinct, the two Vikings practically moving as one.

Soon the fog lightened slightly to reveal that they were in the middle of a whole flock of dragons. Each one seemed to be bigger than the last, and they all appeared to have something dangling from their claws or mouth.

"What's going on?" Astrid questions Hiccup quietly, as if he had all the answers.

"I don't know," Hiccup said, a hint of fear in his voice as he moved his hand to place it on top of his dragon's head. "Toothless, you've got to get us out of here, bud." He told his friend, though was shocked when his drag didn't shift at all, only shaking his head to clear it of Hiccup's hand. Causing Hiccup to shrink back the tiniest bit and look around, attempting to find some sort of answer.

"It looks like they're hauling in their kill," he said lamely, sure he was stating what was already obvious to Astrid.

"Ah, what does that make us?" Astrid asked, almost wanting Hiccup to slap himself. He had been attempting to sue his answers to give Astrid some sort of comfort, clear in the foggy bits, not cause a slight tremor in her voice and scare her more.

Displeased with the effect his first answer had caused on Astrid, Hiccup chose to keep his mouth shut and look around. He wasn't going to say anything until he was sure he knew what was going on and he had a solid answer that would at least reassure Astrid, even if it was only a little bit. As weird as it seemed, Hiccup found he had some deep want to protect Astrid, even though he knew that she was far more likely to be able to protect him rather than the other way around.

Suddenly his train of thought was broken as Toothless started to fall. Astrid was gave a low cry as they were suddenly feet above the water, the dragon somehow navigating his way around countless rocks that seemed to pop out of nowhere in the fog in front of them.

As they weaved in and out of the rocky columns Hiccup felt Astrid's arms tighten around his chest and her head come to rest at the crook of his neck. This closeness wasn't the lighthearted warm feeling that Hiccup had felt engulf him as he and Astrid looked at Berk together only minutes previously, this was a tight grip, the girl clearly frightened, and searching from some sort of comfort. Comfort Hiccup desperately wished he could provide for her.

Soon a cliff face appeared in front of them and Hiccup braced himself for his dragon's next move, expecting Toothless to either go up towards the sky, or dive towards the sea. What Hiccup wasn't prepared for was for Toothless to speed up and enter an opening just big enough for the dragons to slip through and enter the heart of the mountain. Both he and Astrid giving surprised cries as the tunnel only pushed them along faster.

The tunnel stopped at a large cavern lit with and eerie red light. There were too many dragons to even begin to count, their numbers appearing to match that of the stars in the sky.

As they flew deeper into the cavern Hiccup felt Astrid shift her hand clutching at his chest, her face pressed hard into his shoulder. It was obvious the seemingly fearless warrior was scared so Hiccup gathered all the courage he hand, trying to be brave enough for both of them as he spoke, careful not to allow any of his usual tremble or stutter show as he spoke. "What my dad wouldn't give to find this." He told her, again more than likely speaking the obvious, but he needed to do something and he knew that grabbing her hand wouldn't comfort her any more than his words would.

Once they were within the mountain it was like suddenly something clicked and Toothless was himself again. He gently flapped his wings, causing them to lift higher, turning so that he could land on a ledge which had a pillar of stone at its edge, allowing all three to hide behind it. Hiccup felt a slight weight lift from his shoulders as they hid behind the stone pillars, feeling somewhat sheltered from all of the other dragons.

Toothless moved them so that all three could peek around and see what was going on. Giving them all a view of the dragons one by one flying over the apparent hole in the middle of the mountain and dropping the food down.

"Oh, well it's satisfying to know that all our food is being dumped down a hole," Hiccup told Astrid while trying to catch a glimpse of her in his peripheral vision, both wanting to check up on her, but keep an eye on the hole the dragons where dumping their food into.

"They're not eating any of it," Astrid added. She was so close that Hiccups shoulder felt a little warmer where her mouth was over his vest.

Hiccup wanted to say more but his attention was soon pulled away from Astrid and towards a solitary Gronkle which fluttered over the hole, a dopey look on its face as it made a belching noise and a small fish slide from its tongue. It gave its head a shake and scratched its head when a low growl came from the pit. Seeming to bring the Gronkle to its senses.

No sooner had the Gronkle begun to fly off when a massive set of jaw with razor teeth rose from the steam and snatched the smaller dragon in its mouth like an alligator with a turtle, causing both Hiccup and Astrid to gasp.

"What, is that?" Astrid asked, as if she were reading Hiccup's mind.

All the dragons sitting on the rocky outcroppings within the cavern all cowered, pushing themselves back from the ledge as far as they possibly could, some hiding under small arches formed by the rocks. Hiccup found himself mimicking the gesture, pushing Astrid along with him.

Unfortunately for them this form of hiding didn't work as the massive dragon was suddenly looking directly at them. Hiccup wasted no time in lowering his head to meet Toothless'. "Alright, bud, we gotta get outta here," he said as he patted his dragon's head, making sure he had his attention. This apparently grabbed the larger dragon's notice as well because something shifted and Hiccup was telling Toothless "Now," and the dragon was taking off as the large simultaneously pulled itself from the pit below. Snapping his jaws were the trio had been only a second before.

This seemed to cause a commotion among all the dragons and soon everything with wings was screeching and circling the cavern in an upward motion, attempting to dodge the dragons' jaws and get to the opening at the top. It was like a cluster of bats leaving a cave as the sun set, pure chaos, though Hiccup knew he could use this to his advantage, steering Toothless directly into the middle, allowing themselves to be lost among the many.

Once out of the mountain the teens sat in silence as flew, both afraid to make any noise, lest they be found by the giant dragon. For the first few minutes Astrid pressed herself close to Hiccup, and Hiccup pressed himself closer to Toothless, both trying to make themselves smaller, less visible.

Neither one shifted until the cove was in sight, both lifting to at the same time to sit up right, as Astrid finally spoke. "No, no, it totally makes sense, it's like a giant beehive. They're the workers, and that's their queen," she said it aloud, but it almost sounded like it was supposed to be a continuation of some sort of inner dialogue she had been having with herself.

As she finished Toothless swooped down and landed gently as Astrid continued. "It controls them," she said as if Hiccup wasn't aware that the Queen Bee controlled the rest. She shifted quickly and hoped off Toothless, gracefully landing on her feet like a true warrior princess. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she was already in motion, this was where Astrid truly shined. "Let's find your dad," she said starting to run off, causing Hiccup to jump down as quickly as he could arm stretched out towards her.

"No. No, no." he called after her, running to catch up. Finally grabbing her arm to both pause her in her course and to turn her towards him. "No. Not yet. He'll kill Toothless, no. Astrid we need to think this through carefully," he told her, his head already bowed in thought as he tried to come up with a solution to his newest problem. He was starting to think that he wouldn't mind waking up so much anymore if this really was some sort of dream.

"Hiccup, we just discovered the dragon's nest," she answered and Hiccup had the urge to shake her by the shoulders and tell her that he was well aware of what they had discovered, but he knew that wasn't going to get them anywhere. Instead he walked away from her as she spoke again. "The thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here. And you want to keep it a secret?" It felt like an accusation, which hurt, but what hurt even more were her next words. "To protect your pet dragon? Are you serious?" she asked, and Hiccup knew he couldn't keep quiet any longer.

He turned to her, his face as serious as it had ever been in his life, he looked her directly in the eyes as he spoke. "Yes." As much and as long as he had loved his girl, secretly or not, he was not just going to let her go and do something that very well might have get Toothless killed.

Astrid's face was a hard stare but soon it shifted into a soft look of surprise. Hiccup wasn't sure what she would do next, but he almost didn't want to see if coming so he lowered his head and turned back towards Toothless.

"Ok," she finally replied. "So what do we do?" if the situation had been any different Hiccup's heart might have leaped at the use of the word 'we'.

"Just give me until tomorrow, I'll figure something out." He wished he had a better solution, but right now there was really nothing more he could say.

"Ok," she said with a shrug of her shoulders and he turned around and reached for one of the buckles that held his harness in place, believing that was the end and Astrid would now return to the village.

Instead Hiccup suddenly felt a thump on his upper arm, he could practically hear the sound of her fist connecting with the supple flesh under his tunic. "That's for kidnapping me," she informed him as he rubbed his arm. He had thought she was having fun, enjoying the new view, not something he would deem worthy of being punched. He shook his head and turned to Toothless who lifted his head from where he had been lapping at the water.

Both dragon and boy shared expression of mutual confusion as Hiccup raised his hand in question. To which Toothless merely gave a grunt and returned his attention to the pond.

Hiccup watched as Astrid looked away from him as she brushed her bangs out of her face. Then all of a sudden she was reaching out for him again. Hiccup gripped his arm a little tighter and flinched as she grabbed his arm, anticipating another punch. The impact however was not fist to arm but rather lips to cheek as Astrid used her grip on his arm to pull him closer and plant a chaste kiss on his cheek before quickly pulling away all together as if burned and placed her hand over her heart.

"That's for, everything else," she said as she finally turned and walked away. Hiccup couldn't believe his luck. For a moment he forgot about all that had happened in the air, looking away from Astrid as his brain attempted to process the fact that he was definitely awake and Astrid had just kissed him. Ash he looked up ha caught Astrid pick up pace and run off, finally letting everything sink in.

As his brain finally caught up the corner of his mouth jerked up in a small smirk as Toothless walked up beside him. Hiccup held a smug look on his face for a moment until he turned his head towards his best friend who stared at him with his big eyes. "Wh-, what are you looking at?" he asked, embarrassment starting to seep in, even if the only living souls who knew about the kiss was him, Astrid and a Dragon.

He turned back around just in time to see Astrid pull herself over the ledge to the Cove and disappear. Now that he was sure that she couldn't see him and Toothless had sauntered off he gave a small content sigh. Even after finding the nest and almost getting eaten, he could definitely put this night at the very top of best nights in his life.


	2. Failures

**A/N: Here's a little chapter, trying to do it from Astrid's POV, which I actually found a lot harder at time. Oh well, I'm happy with the final product so it was worth it. Hope you all enjoy. Let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon.**

Astrid found herself nervously tapping her fingers on the stone of the arena, where she stood at the front of the crowd, waiting to watch Hiccup kill his first dragon. At least, that was what everyone else from the village was waiting for, Astrid on the other hand was waiting to see what sort of plan Hiccup had tucked up his sleeve. She was almost certain there was no way Hiccup would enter that arena and cause harm to a dragon. Not with the way that Hiccup obviously cared for Toothless, and if she was being honest, Astrid wasn't sure she would be able to watch Hiccup even attempt to kill a dragon. It just didn't seem right.

All too quickly the anticipation got the better of her. Astrid was a woman of action, the young blonde was not known for her patience. All too quickly she was giving a huff and turning around, practically whipping the person standing next to her with her golden braid. She didn't utter a single word of apology as she pushed people aside, making her way through the crowd and towards the entrance gate to the arena where she knew the scrawny auburn haired boy would be awaiting the end of his father's speech.

As Stoick spoke Astrid could tell Hiccup was deep in thought. He didn't even turn around as she quietly stepped down the sloped floor leading to the arena, he probably didn't even hear her. As the chief gave a final cry the crowd cheered and Astrid stepped closer, finally coming to gain Hiccup's attention.

"Be careful with that dragon," there was more she wanted to say, but now wasn't the time. She needed to keep things light hearted she realized, however she knew it wasn't for Hiccup's benefit, but for her own. She would never admit it to anyone, but she was scared. She was afraid of what might happen to him in there, unwilling to fight a dragon, let alone kill it, and afraid of what the rest of Berk might do when they realized that Hiccup had no intentions of fighting said dragon.

"It's not the dragon I'm worried about," Hiccup said, voicing her inner fears.

"What are you going to do?" she questioned finally, pushing her bangs out of her eyes so she had a clear view of Hiccup. She needed to know that he had a plan, she needed to know that this was all going to be ok. If something happened to this awkward teen, she wasn't sure what she herself would do. Astrid had spent so long thinking of this by as the village screw up that up until the night before she hadn't really paid much attention to him. But now, she felt like she was connected, like being so close to him as they soared through the air had caused some sort of tie between the two, a tight string formed of wind and cloud secured around both their souls, in a tight knot.

"Put an end to this. I have to try," He said, not really giving Astrid the answer she wanted. She was expecting a well thought out plan, steps, some sort of detail. He had basically only confirmed what she already knew. She knew he was going to try and change the opinions the village held about dragons, as he had done with her. The problem is, she wanted to know _how._

"Astrid," Hiccup started, finally turning around to look at her. "If something goes wrong, just make sure they don't find Toothless," he told her, and the whole thing made her feel like she had just been bashed in the chest with Thor's hammer. What did he mean '_if something went wrong'_? Astrid didn't really want to think about what the whole sentence implied.

"I will," was all she could say at first. She knew that no matter what he asked in this moment, with his pine green eyes full of determination, and such a brave heart. There was no chance of her denying him anything. However, even if she would do as he asked, Astrid had a condition of her own. "Just, promise me it won't go wrong," She finally asked. It was the least he could do, offer her a little bit of assurance.

Instead of hearing Hiccups voice giving her his word, instead Gobber walked up behind him, speaking just as the young man opened his mouth. "It's time Hiccup, knock 'em dead," he said. Causing Hiccup to close his mouth and turn.

Astrid wished she could punch Gobber in that split second, and then wished she could see Hiccup's face. She wished she could look into those eyes one more time and give him a smile, a small kiss, anything to reassure him, even if she didn't feel at all reassured herself.

It felt like hours to her as he walked down towards the arena entry, even though it was only a few steps away. Finally he placed his helmet over his head and Gobber walked back towards her, closing the gate with a final _clink. _This was it.

Astrid could hear the crowd cheering, could even hear her friends calling out, attempting to cheer Hiccup on, however, she couldn't find her voice to even utter a sound. All she could do was walk towards the gate, coming as close as she could to make sure she had a clear sight of Hiccup at all times. She needed to be able to see him, to find some way to help should the need arise.

Her stomach clenched as he moved towards the rack of weapons near the center of the arena. Like the smart boy he was, the first thing Hiccup chose was a shield, easing Astrid's tension slightly. At least he could protect himself. He then reached out and pulled a small dagger from the rack and Astrid bit her lip. If something went wrong, he wasn't going to be able to do much with that, and she knew that Hiccup had chosen it for that very reason. He was making an example.

She heard him speak lightly, "I'm ready," he spoke and then there was a creak as a rope was drawn the large log which was keeping the dragon pen secured lifted.

As soon as the gate was freed a flaming Monstrous Nighmare came screeching out, moving to claw its way around the arena, climbing the ceiling and walls, even stopping a moment to shoot flames at a few members of the crowd. Astrid tried to keep track of its movements as Hiccup remained still in the middle of the arena, seemingly doing the same thing.

Finally the dragon seemed to notice the easy prey, and swooped down to stand in front of Hiccup, causing Astrid to chew on her bottom lip and clench her hands into fists. She reached out to grab the bars of the steel gate as the dragon advanced and Hiccup backed up, dropping both his weapon and his shield. _'Come on, Hiccup,' _she thought silently as the rest of the crowd muttered, attempting to figure out what the strange boy was doing.

The dragon advanced more and Hiccup put his hands out in a calming motion, apparently trying to reassure the dragon that he meant it no harm. To further show his intentions Astrid watched as Hiccup reached up with both hands and removed his helmet, and threw it off to the side, causing the whole crowd to gasp. Astrid could only roll her eyes.

However as the crowd started to further gasp and mutter as the dragon stayed still, Astrid pushed her head between the bars and looked around, trying to figure out what Hiccup's next move would be and a way to help. That was when Stoick spoke up.

"Stop the fight," he called.

"No!" Hiccup yelled out so everyone in attendance could hear. "I need you all to see this," he said as he reached out hesitantly towards the red dragon.

"They're not what we think they are. We don't have to kill them," he said as he moved closer, causing Astrid to push herself a little closer to the bars, wanting to be as close as she could get should anything go wrong, either due to the dragon, or the citizens of Berk who still were gasping and mumbling.

Suddenly Stoick was furious and leaped from his chair yelling, "I said stop the fight," he demanded and slammed his great axe on one of the steel rings around the arena. That was when all chaos seemed to be let loose.

The Monstrous Nightmare was no longer calm and seemingly ready to accept Hiccup's calm movements. It was suddenly angry and snapped at Hiccup before spiting a long flame at him, causing him to start to run around the arena, the dragon right behind him.

"Hiccup!" Astrid cried, pulling at the bars, no longer paying any attention to the crowd around the arena. Her main goal was to get in there and help save the solitary awkward boy.

Her body sprung into action as she snatched a heavy axe from the wall and used it as leverage to lift the bottom of the gate, sliding under it to pull herself through and into the arena with Hiccup and the Monstrous Nightmare.

Everything was a panic. Hiccup was running around, dodging bursts of flames and attempting to grab a shield or anything that he might use to protect himself. Astrid stood by the side a moment, trying to come up with some sort of plan. As she spotted a hammer amongst the wreckage of the weapon wrack Astrid called out attempting to get his attention. "Hiccup!" she screamed, then ran over to the hammer, using her foot to kick a piece of board which caused the hammer to fly up so she might snatch it out of the air. With a cry she threw it at the dragons head, connecting with his jaw just as he seemed to be closing in on his bony prey.

What Astrid hadn't anticipated was her actions causing the dragon to turn its wrath on her. Suddenly the beast had turned its head in her direction and she had just enough sense to start running off before the dragon was right behind her. She ran in a zig zag, hoping to slow the dragon as she tried to decide her next move.

"This way," she heard and looked over to see Stoick had lifted another one of the gates and was motioning for the two teens to head in that direction. Astrid didn't hesitate, she stopped herself mid step and move in the direction of her chief, Hiccup at her side. Stoick managed to stop her by placing his hands on her shoulders just as she turned to see Hiccup about to pass the gate, only to be stopped when the Monstrous Nightmare shot at the wall right next to it, Stoick protectively wrapping his arms around her and pushing her to the far side.

By the time she looked about again, Hiccup was running off in the other direction, away from the gate. Only to be bumped by the Monstrous Nightmare, knocking him to the ground and trapping him between its claws. Astrid was about to scream out when she heard a sound, causing her to look up.

There was a sudden blast and smoke filled the arena, obscuring any view she might have had of the red dragon, or Hiccup himself. The only thing that stopped her from calling out was the sound the blast had made. It could only have been caused by one dragon. A Night Fury. Toohtless was here.

Astrid's suspicions were confirmed when there screeching and growling could be heard from the smoke and the black dragons and the larger red one came tumbling out into clean air, biting and scratching at each other. In no time at all Toothless was able to push the Monstrous Nightmare away from it, and backed himself up to stand in front of Hiccup, screeching at the larger dragon, keeping him back from his rider.

The Monstrous Nightmare slinked away from the other two as Hiccup ran up to starting trying to push Toothless away. At the same time the men and woman from the village started to climb through the bars and leap into the arena, all charging the dragon that had just saved the chief's son.

Astrid cried out as she saw Stoick grab a weapon from the wall and start to charge Toothless with everyone. She could hear Hiccup calling out as well, though she had no idea what his words were. Toothless seemed to finally catch on to what was happening as he started to shake his head and open his wings in some sort of attempt to defend himself from the onslaught of people.

Astrid covered her mouth when Toothless and Stoick went rolling one over the other, Toothless finally coming out on top and opening his mouth, ready to shoot a plasma shot at the chief. "No. NO!" Astrid heard Hiccup shout, causing Toothless to close his mouth and pushed back a little to look at Hiccup.

As soon as Toothless was distracted, the villagers jumped on him, pushing him to the ground. Astrid shot forward, grabbing around Hiccup's waist to hold him in place as he reached out for his dragon. "Oh, no no. Please just, just don't hurt him." He pleaded with the crowd and Astrid's heart ached as she held him secure, wishing she was wrapping her arms around him in comfort rather than restraint.

Astrid was unsure of what happened next. She didn't see anything around them as she stood there, her feet planted as she held on to Hiccup who was giving her a good fight. She wasn't sure what the villagers did with Toothless. The next thing she was truly aware of was Stoick taking hold of the back of Hiccup's vest and pulling him away from her as Gobber wrapped his good arm around her waist and pulled her back.

She reached out for the boy one more time, but Gobber held her steady as she watched Stoick lead him out of the arena, his head bowed, and hers bowing in failure only seconds later.


End file.
